On Friday night, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (27-30-15) returned to the PPL Center for a must-win game against the Hershey Bears (34-30-10). A win would keep the Phantoms alive in the playoff race, but a loss would eliminate them.
The Phantoms were 4-3-3 in their last ten games. However, the Phantoms were 6-0 against the Bears at home and led the season series 7-5. That streak ended on Friday.
The Phantoms got some good news heading into this game as the Flyers returned goalie Felix Sandstrom while getting Linus Sandin back from injury. It was Sandin’s first game since March 26th against Belleville. Sandin was in the fourth line with Alex Kile and Nick Lappin.
Felix Sandstrom (15-18-4, 2.93 GAA, .901 SV%) started in goal for the Phantoms, while the Bears started Pheonix Copley (17-11-5, 2.32 GAA, .917 SV%).
The Phantoms’ scratches for the game were Garrett McFadden, Ryan Fitzgerald, Jackson Cates, Sam Ersson, Darion Hanson, Will Riedell, Charlie Gerard, Ryan MacKinnon, Hayden Hodgson, and Kirill Ustimenko.
Eighteen seconds into the first period, Phantoms’ defenseman Garrett Wilson dropped the gloves and fought Hershey defenseman Dylan McIlrath for several minutes. Both players went to the penalty box for two minutes. Play resumed with four-on-four action.
Then, eighteen seconds later, the Phantoms jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Cooper Zech (8) intercepted the puck inside the Bears’ zone. Zech passed the puck to Max Willman (11), who fired the puck top shelf from the right circle and into the net for the goal.
With 9:40 left, Hershey tied the game. The Bears were entering the Phantoms’ zone when Bobby Nardella made a pass to Garrett Pilon (24). Pilon passed the puck back to Bobby Nardella (6), who skated past three Phantoms’ players and shot the puck past Sandstrom’s left side, tying the game 1-1. The Bears broke a 142-minute scoreless streak. They were shut out in their last two games.
There was a lot of back-and-forth action for the rest of the first period. Then with 7:45 left, Phantom’ forward Matt Strome got caught with a cross-check on Bears’ forward Beck Malenstyn. Luckily, the Phantoms killed the power-play.
Both teams blocked a lot of shots in the first period. The game remained tied 1-1 after one period, with the shots even at six apiece.
Hershey almost took the lead in the second period with 12:15 left after Mike Sgarbossa’s shot hit the post. With 11:53 left, Phantoms’ forward Max Willman fought Bears’ defenseman, Dylan McIlrath. McIlrath was one strike away from being kicked out of the game.
Then, with 9:37 left, Hershey took a 2-1 lead. Brett Leason (7) had the puck and made a nice pass in-between two Phantoms’ players to a flying Aliaksei Protas (8). From the right side, Protas shot the puck past Sandstrom’s left side and into the net to take the lead. Cody Franson (26) earned the secondary assist.
Shortly after the goal, the Phantoms returned the favor, tying the game with 8:22 left. Phantoms’ forward Logan Day had the puck rushing towards the Bears’ zone. He made a pass to Max Willman, who missed the shot wide right.
Meanwhile, Garrett Wilson was behind the goal net. He passed the puck to Tanner Laczynski (7). Laczynski slap shot the puck past Copley’s right side and into the net, tying the game 2-2. At that point, it was the Phantoms’ second shot of the second period. Even though Wilson helped Laczynski’s goal, he was not credited with an assist.
With 7:22 left, the Phantoms went on their only power-play of the game after Bears’ forward Alex Alexeyev hooked Isaac Ratcliffe. Unfortunately, the Phantoms could not score.
In the closing minutes of the second period, Hershey had momentum inside the Phantoms’ zone. Bears’ forward Cody Franson almost put Hershey back in the lead, but his shot hit the far-right post. Once again, the game was tied 2-2 after two periods, and the Bears led the shots 17-10. The Phantoms only had four shots in the second period.
The Phantoms players were doing a good job putting their bodies on the line, and they blocked ten shots in the game.
The Bears went on their second power-play after Adam Clendening hooked Mason Morelli a minute into the third period. However, the Phantoms killed the power-play, and the Bears were 0/2.
Off the faceoff, with 13:57 left inside the Phantoms’ zone, the Bears took a 3-2 lead after Lucas Johansen (8) was up against the left boards and fired the puck under Sandstrom’s glove and into the net for the goal. Aliaksei Protas (16) earned the assist.
Fifty-seven seconds later, the Phantoms tied it up again. Off the faceoff, inside the Bears’ zone, Adam Clendening (36) took a shot from the right circle that was tipped into the net by Garrett Wilson (17), tying the game 3-3. Cooper Zech (9) got the secondary assist.
Late in the third period, Phantoms’ forward Adam Johnson was tripped by Beck Malenstyn, and no call was made. Meanwhile, Logan Day tripped Brett Leason, and no call was made. For the fourth straight game, the Phantoms were heading to overtime tied 3-3.
Two minutes and two seconds into overtime, Bears’ forward Brett Leason (5) ended the game. He took a shot that Brennan Menell blocked, but Leason stayed with it. Then, he fired the puck to the upper right corner and into the net, giving the Bears a 4-3 win. The win snapped the Phantoms’ undefeated home record against the Bears.
In other scores, the Bridgeport Islanders beat the Springfield Thunderbirds 4-2, while the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins defeated the Providence Bruins 4-1. As a result, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms have been eliminated from the playoffs.
The Phantoms did their best to try and win the game. They did their best all season long with constant call ups, send downs, and injuries. This was a learning experience for them, and now they look to build momentum heading into the next season with four games left.
The Phantoms finished the night with 16 shots, 0/1 on the power-play, and Felix Sandstrom made 27 of 31 saves.
Lehigh Valley has one more road game of the season against the Hershey Bears today at 7 pm. Tickets for the game can be purchased thanks to our friends at StubHub.
